Oil – Page 4 – Pam Jackson

I was reading an article in the e*lix*ir online magazine and learned about an Irianian artist Shahriar Cyrus. His painting “Twenty-Fifth of December 1981” is a portrait of seven of the eight Bahá’ís, members of the Iranian National Spiritual Assembly, who were executed without trial on that date. Read the full article here: https://www.elixir-journal.org/issue15/ShahriarCyrusInterview.php . The missing 8th member who was not in the painting was a woman Jinous Mahmoudi. She was not in the courtroom photo that Shahriar used as a reference because she was not included in the trial. On their way to the execution platform, one apparently said to the others, “Let’s say goodbye now.” When they started kissing each other, the firing squad didn’t understand what they were doing and they opened fire, killing them all before they even reached the shooting spot.

https://news.bahai.org/story/1076/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdsFrwJb8NM

Dawn Zypher George

Linen, Oil, Painting

Oct 10, 1984 to Jun 28, 2000

Sometimes it is hard to know when a painting is finished. For this one Dawn smiled at me and I knew I was done. Gary and I were just moving to the Island 24 years ago when Dawn died. We made the trip to Toronto for her funeral. She lived in Sudbury but died near Toronto. In Bahá’í Law, the deceased is to be buried no more than one hour’s journey from the place of death. I remember how beautiful and park like the green space of the Prospect cemetery was with lots of trees and dappled shade. A good resting place.

I painted this over a year ago and just mailed it off to her dad Ken. He is delighted to receive it. I will miss her presence in my studio. We stay connected through prayers.